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During spring 2001, singer/guitarist/lyricist René de Wilde decides to move from the Dutch capitol Amsterdam to the even more rural eastern part of the country. In retrospect, this turned out to be a first essential step in the coming about of Parkside.
Having to resign his job as a business economist (due to episodes of ‘slight mental instability’), René decides to now devote all his time to writing and performing music. Besides an obscure talent for making his guitar sound like Erik Satie on mescaline, René is gifted with a voice that draws from a colourful emotional pallet, being able to elicit goose bumps as well as a chronic migraine.
Soon after setting in his new residence, René is introduced to ‘digitalist’ Bram van den Oever (aka Gluid), who after years of exercising vocal pyrotechnics in the ranks of several Dutch acts, appears to have a rather morbid fascination with the mutilation of soundchunks. Having ‘cut-copy-paste’ written all over him, he masters the fine art of turning purring cats into drumkits, and buzzing refrigerators into the London Symphony Orchestra. And vice versa!
Aware of the fact that a third psychic would result in a small scale mental institution rather than a musical collaboration, Bram and René decided to recruit multi-instrumentalist Rob den Otter and turn Parkside into a three-piece company. With an academic degree in experimental psychology (which indeed comes in handy given the bands overall mental condition), and currently working hard on his PhD thesis, Rob adds just that little bit of scientific rationality to balance out the craziness of his two fellow musicians.
The first couple of years of this peculiar musical collaboration were spent in Brams’ attic, establishing a debut-ep (Painting a mushroom, November 2001), and a first full-length album (Energy/Trouble, February 2003), which got embraced by some of Dutch finest critics:
(OOR) ‘Parkside evokes exiting atmospheres through delightful sounds that are prominently placed without disturbing the songs. Extremely well-done! Think of Radioheads’ ‘Kid a’, but with a little more song to hold on to’.
(FRET) ‘An unbalanced, but at times sensational, often emotional, comical and above all kaleidoscopical sound-experience. Odd at least, maybe brilliant’.
Not only the critics, but also a slowly erecting army of lovers made the intractable trio decide to make their music fit for stage exhibition in 2005. This is where the ‘Schreuders Brothers’ come in. Dirk, the elder, plays the bass with a gruesome energy that ends eternity. Mark, guess what, is a groovy drummer with a flow that cannot be found in the medical encyclopaedia.
After two years of playing live, Parkside ends up recording a new album in August 2007:
Cables. The dark corners of live are still represented firmly, but shades of light are shining through as well. Self-mockery: Hallelujah! Schizophrenia? Hmm, no, moodswings in the shape of colourful songs.
The album was recorded in Brams’ attic & Renés’ living room. René also did the mixing. In March 2008, the album is released by MOMI Recordings, a new label, started by Mediamonster Peter Boorsma.
When Cables was done, unfortunately, Dirk (the bassman) had to leave Parkside due to urgent other activities. Parkside decided to continue as a three-piece again, writing new material… in the Dutch language! The first two shows with the new repertoire were quite a blast, and the band is now working on a new Promo-EP.
